BC_1759_EMONTAGU_EC_1
Download as TXT Download as XML
<Q A 1759? TC EC EMONTAGU> <X ELIZABETH MONTAGU> [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH CARTER. MO 3027. 1759? JUNE 7 LONDON. EMENDATED BY MATTHEW MONTAGU?}] <P1> Hillstreet y=e= 7=th= of june [\IN PENCIL 1759\] Dear Mad=m= Send me a better letter, yes, I say a better letter, do you think I care for your wit & your wisedom when you won't tell me how you do. Direct your next to Mad=me= Sevigné in ye shades, or to Mad=me= Maintenons Spirit in y=e= cloysters of S=t= Cyr, they will admire your language, they will approve your sentiments, & being no longer of Earths mould will feel none of ye fears, the cares, that haunt a mortal Woman for a mortal friend. What aggravates your quill is that I do suppose you are very well & would not tell me so. The state of your body may be well, but for the state of your mind what a farrago of vanity! What toys what bagatelles must it be composed of that you take such delight in the pump Room! I suppose by this time you are famous there for y=e= fluency of your small talk, the pertness of your repartee, & the flippancy of your dialogue, nay for what I know you may shine in equivoque & double entendre. I am glad Miss Talbot <P2> [\Recovers DELETED\] [\recovers BY MM?/] so fast. I was always of opinion that y=e= conversation of a reasonable, tender, sensible friend for her sick hours, & an ingenious learned companion for her better spirits, might have been of great service to her: [\so/] great was my zeal for her I wish'd her such a Person as could give dignity to the sentiments of Epictetus & write an introduction to the work far better than all the productions of pagan wisedom: but in this strange World one is apt to take things too high. Miss Betsy Carter gay from a Ball, & flippant from ye Pump room does just as well. I shall take my next measures several degrees below ye sublime, then I may [\WORDS DELETED\] be on a level with experience which y=e= choice spirits & sublimated genius's seldom are. I am glad you were enough in your sober senses to like my friend M=rs= Pitt. I could not help fancying I saw you sitting by her in y=e= Window coughing, hemming, sneezing, & giving every sign of life but speaking. I do not wonder you found y=r= self so easy in ye visit, [\LATER EMENDATION: extream INTO extreme WITH [\treme/] / > politeness comes nearest to [\LATER EMENDATION: extream INTO extreme WITH [\treme/] \] simplicity of manners; & indeed [\does\] not ye utmost limits of improvement in every thing bring people near to where they set out? I am not satisfied with ye account of M=rs= Pitts health: [\don't DELETED BY MM?\] [\do not BY MM?/] let <P3> Her drink too much Bristol water, there is no spring but that which you & nine other Virgins drink at, of which the deeper the draught the safer the experiment. If you have not forgot your abc you may read M=r= Masons Caractacus. It is a Drama not Dramatical; his Melpomene is too chaste & too cold for y=e= [\Theater INTO Theatre BY MM?/]. She is a very modest Virgin, pure in sentiment & diction & void of passion; her sober ornaments are a Greek veil & some Druidical Hieroglyphicks, all which I mightily respect & do not at all like. I do not mean to say the peice has not merit, it has a great deal, but on the whole I must own I am not fond of such compositions. I believe indeed they are designd for my betters in learning & taste. I rejoyce that y=r= Brother is at Bristol. Pray make my best comp=ts= to M=rs= & Miss Talbot & M=rs= Pitt, & also to y=r= Brother, why was he not so good as to call upon me? I could have talk_d of you, & it is a subject that I believe I talk well upon, for my heart is as eloquent as any ones. I hope you will write to me soon, & pray tell me whether you like pompons or aigrettes in y=r= hair, if you put on rouge, dance minuets & Cottillons that I may describe & define you in y=r= Bristol state. I ask a thousand pardons for detaining you so long from y=e= pump room but I hope it will make you some amends if I tell you L=d= Northampton had a fine suit for y=e= Birth day <P4> The wastecoat silver & gold, ye coat gold & silver. These must be interesting subjects to a Bristol Belle. I am glad I have got a recipe [\from ye Druids/] to exorcise & purify you when you leave Bristol. I must sprinkle you with Druid holy water, I must dash some "boughs of vervain blue dipt in cold September [\dew DELETED\]" full in your face & you will read Plato again with y=r= wonted sobriety, in the mean time in hopes of better days I am [\CROSSED OVER BY MM y=r= most faithfull and affec=te=\] [\&c&c BY MM?/] EMontagu